Peugeot 407

It's nice when your low expectations get thoroughly high-sided.

Not that the 407 is a bad car, or that a Peugeot diesel engine is ever likely to be anything other than excellent, but somehow a 2.2-litre four-cylinder diesel Peugeot 407 saloon doesn't exactly get you sprinting across the car park on the dot of five o'clock.

What's new here is the HDi engine, the first four-cylinder lump the company has ever fitted with two sequential turbochargers.

The first, and larger, turbo does its business alone at up to 2,700rpm, and only then does the smaller one join in to improve response for the rest of the rev range. Power is now a decent 170bhp, with a 277lb ft torque maximum available from as little as 1,500rpm.

What this makes for in the real world is effortless driving. On top of still riding well and feeling light in the hands, the 407 is now genuinely comfortable in any of its six manual gears, pulling easily enough to negate the absence of an auto 'box.

The performance figures don't make for particularly glittering reading, but it's both quiet and responsive enough to overcome this, and with the promise of 46.3mpg you have the holier virtue of economy onside.

Prices start at £21,300 because the 2.2 HDi only comes in high-ish spec Sport trim. That can't stop it being a bland car, but it doesn't stop it being a good one, either.

Matt Master